


The Other Side of Sacrifice

by theoriginalcheeesecake



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Canon Related, Canon Rewrite, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:02:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23668063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theoriginalcheeesecake/pseuds/theoriginalcheeesecake
Summary: Caroline Forbes dies at the hands of Klaus Mikaelson, staked to death during the sacrifice of the sun and the moon. However, when Klaus dies, only moments later, and Caroline is resurrected, it seems to mark the beginning of a return to normalcy for the small town of Mystic Falls. But that would be too easy, right? A post-sacrifice, canon-esque re-explore of season 3.
Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson
Comments: 38
Kudos: 174





	1. The Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Thank you for reading! Just want to make a small note on canon compliance - all of season one and most of season two will be considered settled canon for this story. But from just before the sacrifice and beyond will be territory re-explored, with Caroline and Klaus as the main players. Hope you enjoy.

_“Caroline…”_

_“Caroline?”_

_“Caroline!”_

Caroline woke with a start, disorientated. She felt the phantom racing of her heart, even if only as a feeling of the past.

She took deep, calming breaths, attempting to centre herself after her abrupt rouse from slumber.

She was different, in the months since the sacrifice. It wasn’t good different, or even bad different, necessarily. It was just different.

Of course, as Bonnie had said, Caroline’s experience with the sacrifice was possibly unique.

“ _Caroline, you’ve died and come back in some form twice now,”_ Bonnie said to her, months ago, just before the witch left for a summer away from the supernatural life in Mystic Falls. “ _You died your human death, then the vampire magic brought you back. Then when Klaus killed you in the sacrifice, you died a vampire’s death, and my magic brought you back. There is no blueprint for what that kind of magic will do to a being.”_

Bonnie’s words of course, rang true with Caroline. All actions had consequences, after all. 

And, little by little, Caroline started to notice things. Different experiences that were inexplicable, but tangible.

The first instance had been quite innocuous, really. She was alone in the middle of the woods, and suddenly she felt a presence, like there was someone there, but just beyond her field of vision at every point.

This happened for a week or so, and from there, she began feeling… _energies_. It was similar to the first occurrence in the woods, except each presence emanated different vibes. Like the subtle differences in wine flavours. A chardonnay and a moscato were both white wines, but they still were very different. 

She just began trying to distinguish different features of each _energy_ , jotting down her experiences, but then then the dreams started. 

A few times a week she would wake suddenly, after a fitful night of amber coloured, feral eyes, and someone whispering ‘ _Caroline’_ intermittently over hours.

When the dreams began, she stopped feeling the energies. It was a relief of sorts; she didn’t have to be on guard every waking hour. But after weeks of poor sleep, she thought she would readily trade her restless nights, with peculiar days.

It was all quite off putting, but she made the conscious decision to deal with it on her own for the time being. No one was getting hurt, and she was just a little uncomfortable from time to time. Also, she had no idea how to even broach the topic if she wanted to anyway.

Besides, there was _so_ much else going on that rendered her discomfort quite the back burner issue in the goings on of Mystic Falls. 

There was her friendship with Tyler, that was growing stronger by the day. There was Matt, who was _still_ pointedly ignoring her at every chance she got. There was her mother who was just getting her head around her daughter the vampire, Caroline wasn’t going to pile any more weird unknown supernatural things onto their relationship just yet.

Then there was the kicker.

Stefan was still missing.

In the crazy aftermath of the sacrifice, Caroline was still a little fuzzy on how it all played out. But she had been provided all important notes.

After Caroline was sacrificed, Klaus swiftly moved on to Elena. From there, his werewolf transformation began. This was where Bonnie came in, channeling the incredible power of the full moon, the sacrifices, and the ancestral witches, Bonnie brought Klaus to the brink of death. While Klaus fought against Bonnie’s onslaught and for his life, as defenceless as he had ever been, Elijah delivered the final blow, ripping Klaus’ heart from his chest.

Whenever Caroline thought about what transpired while she was dead, she couldn’t help but feel terribly sad for Klaus. What a betrayal, and what a gruesome way to die. She knew she was supposed to hate Klaus, but she wouldn’t have wished that death on anyone, not even Klaus.

Caroline was told it all happened very quickly after Klaus died. Bonnie, suddenly able to channel the power of the death of a Hybrid as well, turned her grief of losing her two best friends, to resurrecting them. Having already weaved a spell to protect Elena with John Gilbert, Bonnie let her magic flow completely into Caroline.

Caroline remembered that bit, or at least, she remembered taking a sudden gasping breath after an oppressive nothingness. Immediately following Caroline’s return, a new figure appeared on the seen, an irate and distraught blonde woman. They since discovered the woman was Rebekah Mikaelson, Klaus and Elijah’s only sister. She knocked Elijah away from Klaus’ desiccating body and the they began to fight him. It was a battle unlike Caroline had ever seen, two exceptionally powerful beings at total war with each other.

At some point or other, Rebekah noticed Stefan who was skirting around the furore, in a vain attempt to get to Elena’s corpse. For some reason this caught Rebekah’s attention, and before anyone could do anything else she snapped Elijah’s neck, then Stefan’s. And the she was off with the limp bodies of her two brothers, and with Stefan’s.

And none of them had seen any of them since.

They had managed glean a vague idea of what Rebekah and Stefan were up to, thanks to Caroline and her mom using resources at the Sheriff’s department to track their movements throughout the summer. Though, every lead that was passed onto Damon seemed to run cold.

Apparently, Rebekah was traipsing across the entire country, searching for _something_. They just hadn’t figured out what yet. And for whatever reason, Stefan was with her, and he was staying with her, and they hadn’t figured out why that was either.

As for Elijah, that was another thing they didn’t know. They assumed Rebekah had a dagger of her own she made use of, though no one could know for sure. And because of this, Caroline felt slightly uneasy knowing he could be back at any minute.

So here Caroline was, an entire summer later, with things _just_ settling down, she didn’t want to put _more_ supernatural drama onto anyone. She could deal with the spine tingles, fear, and few nights a week of restless sleep, if it meant her friends were better off.

Though as she lay in her bed that morning, Caroline resolved to talk to Bonnie if it got worse. That way there would actually be cause for concern.

Throwing off her bed covers, Caroline dressed with faux-excitement – fake it til you make it right? Because today was Elena’s 18th birthday.

And no matter how mopey Elena had been over Stefan’s disappearance, no matter how messed up everyone was feeling, tonight would be a party to remember if Caroline had anything to say about it.

xxx

“Hey!” Caroline beamed, as she sat beside Tyler at the Grill.

“Hey, Care,” he replied. “How’s it going?”

She was poised to answer, when that feeling of being watched tingled through her, and she heard a voice whisper her name.

She whipped around, attempting to find the owner of the voice. But there was no one. Plus, it sounded inexplicably like the same voice who whispered to her in her dreams.

Now _this_ was a development. She had never heard that voice during the day before.

“You okay?” Tyler asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Caroline thought about confiding in Tyler. If anyone could handle it, surely it was him? But what would she say? Something happened to me when I died and came back for the second time, so now I feel enigmatic energies, have nightmares, oh and hear voices now too apparently.

“Yeah, I’m okay, I guess I didn’t sleep well last night.”

xxx

“You’ve outdone yourself, as usual Caroline!”

It was later that day, and the compliment came from Jenna, who was coming down the stairs with Ric, about an hour after the party began.

“Yeah, really Caroline, why anyone else tries to throw events, I have no idea,” Ric added.

Caroline smiled at the two lovers. After all the bad stuff that happened to them over the past few months, it was nice having Jenna in the loop, and nice to see a bit of normalcy from the young couple.

“Don’t have too much fun!” Caroline said. “You are the chaperones, remember.”

As the two adults laughed and walked away, Caroline tried to pretend she was having a good time, tried beaming around at all her hard work paying off.

But she couldn’t.

On top of all Caroline’s _other_ issues, Elena was _still_ mopey, Matt was simultaneously drunk _and_ high, and was still managing to ignore her as loudly as he could. And then there was Tyler.

Now, logically, Caroline knew she had little claim to Tyler. After their kiss months earlier, she turned him down, _she_ said no.

But, _boy_ , he was grinding all over slutty Sophie, and, _god_ , it was grinding her gears.

How _dare_ he. Seriously.

“Hey, great party, Caroline,” Sophie said, as she and Tyler left the mosh pit.

“Thanks!” Caroline said, the word dripping with insincerity. “Now leave it.”

Sophie obliged with a pleasant smile, and not a word. Of course she would, compulsion will do that to a person.

“What the hell?” Tyler said, indignantly.

Caroline just rolled her eyes, and brushed past him.

As she melted into the crowd, she stopped dead in her tracks.

Mixed in amongst the faces of her drunk class mates was a face that _couldn’t_ be there.

It was lit with a smug smirk, and there was a calculating glint in his eye.

“Klaus?” Caroline said, weakly.

He flicked his eyebrows at her, but at that moment, one of her class mates bumped her, breaking her concentration, and when her head shot back to where Klaus was standing, he was gone.

Rattled, she decided she needed a _real drink_. Surely some O+ would settle her nerves.

xxx

“What’s your problem? You pissed that I brought someone?”

It was half an hour later, when Caroline made it down the stairs after her blood-bag pit stop, and Tyler was already in her face.

Could she _not_ catch a break today?

“Why would I be pissed?” she answered, petulantly. “You brought a date, you’re dating! That’s awesome.”

She stalked away from him, she had _bigger_ fish to fry that evening, like getting so wasted she could forget she was _seeing faces in crowds._

It was useless, however, as Tyler just followed her and said, “should I not be dating?”

“Hey, you’re horny all the time, right?” she shot back. “I mean a guy has needs!”

“He sure does, sweetheart.”

“What did you say?” she snapped, as for the second time that day she spun around, trying and failing to find the face of someone whispering in her ear.

Caroline’s skin was crawling. She knew it wasn’t Tyler who said it, and she _knew_ the voice didn’t come from one of her class mates. But she shuddered to think that maybe the voice from her dreams, and the voice that had been following her all day, belonged to the same dead man who mysteriously appeared in a crowd of drunk teenagers only thirty minutes earlier. 

“I didn’t say anything,” Tyler pouted, sulking at Caroline’s harsh tone. “What’s the matter with you?”

Caroline scrambled to find the best way to dodge his question.

And, maybe it was because she was drunk, or maybe she just wanted to shut him up, or maybe she was just so on edge about her rapidly deteriorating grip on reality, but she grabbed Tyler by the lapels and kissed him.

They kissed ferociously for a few moments before Tyler pulled away.

“Let’s get out of here?” he asked, panting his way through the words. 

“Uh uh.”

xxx

Much much later, Caroline found herself tiptoeing as quietly as possible out of the Lockwood Mansion.

Sex may have been great, and an excellent distraction, and she may truly have some sort of feelings for Tyler – _maybe_. But that still didn’t make up for the fact that when she drifted off for some post-coital sleep she fell straight back into her nightmare.

A voice, endlessly calling to her, reeling her in. And the eyes, those amber eyes, suddenly had a face to go with them.

_His_ face.

Klaus.

So, when Caroline woke with a start, as was inevitable, she silently donned her dress, and slipped from the room.

There was nothing else for it, she would _have_ to talk to Bonnie. If Klaus was somehow haunting her, or whatever, having a well-informed witch on her side would be only an advantage.

Caroline was just about to reach the front door, when none other than Carol Lockwood appeared, looking ever so judgemental. Curse her bad luck!

“Mrs Lockwood! Hi,” Caroline said, as innocently as possible.

“Leaving so soon?” the older woman asked, pointedly.

“Ah, I didn’t mean to be so… I mean, we were just….” Caroline floundered, her ears still ringing with Klaus’ whispers. “I’m gonna get my purse.”

She reached for her little silver bag, and as she touched it her hand began to burn. Before she could turn around, pain exploded through her back, quickly permeating her body, as Carol shot her full of vervain.

Caroline quickly lost consciousness, and she saw Carol’s concerned but determined face loom over her – and in Caroline’s last moments before the darkness claimed her, she was sure she saw the grinning face of Klaus waving at her over Carol’s shoulder.


	2. The Cell

Caroline came to very slowly, her head pounding, skin crawling, and honestly she thought she might throw up. Which was a first since turning… Vomiting wasn't a big problem for vampires in her experience.

Yet to open her eyes, Caroline could feel she was tied to a chair; metal chains and ropes cutting into her cold skin. She tried to focus enough through her whopping headache to hear anything in her surroundings, to figure out where she was before her captors knew she was awake. And it wasn't like she had the strength to open her eyes yet, even if she wanted to.

It was another few hours of drifting in and out of consciousness before Caroline felt strong enough to crack a peak at her surroundings. She felt fractionally better than earlier, but she would need a hell of a lot of blood to truly kick the vervain from her system.

When she was finally aware enough to truly take in where she was, she felt a presence behind her. Craning her neck to see, Caroline couldn't turn enough in her restraints to get the angle she needed.

"Who's there?" she called, croakily.

Her voice echoed eerily around the dark dungeon, but there was no response.

"You don't know what you're dealing with!" she said, with much more bravado than she felt. And it's not like it was true, she'd been shot up with _vervain_ , of course they knew what they were dealing with.

"Who are you!" Caroline yelled, louder still, when she still didn't receive any response. "Tell me, or you'll regret it!"

When she finally felt a movement from the figure, and he came into her field of vision, she shook silently, suddenly terrified for her life.

"Klaus," she breathed, keeping her voice as steady as possible.

"You are supposed to be dead, love."

"So are you," she replied, while taking a shuddering breath, in a vain attempt to calm herself.

"Well," Klaus intoned menacingly, coming even closer to her. "I believe I am dead, sweetheart. But somehow, you're living. Care to explain this discrepancy?"

Caroline shivered as he stalked toward her, until he settled his hands on the arms of her chair, his face so close to hers she reared back in an attempt to get away from him.

"How is this possible?" she whispered, still trying to keep her fear at bay. Those hands, that were so close to hers, had killed her once before after all. And Caroline would never forget the feeling of dying, nor the feeling of being dead.

"That is what I'm asking you," he said, his voice raising impatiently. "How are you there and I'm here."

"Shh!" Caroline said harshly, suddenly completely distracted from the man in front of her.

"Did you just ' _shush'_ me, sweetheart?" Klaus asked, indignantly. He didn't think _anyone_ had the audacity to shush him in a millennium!

"Did you hear something?" She asked quickly, trying to focus her mind on the world beyond the stony cell she was currently in.

"I think I can hear –"

But it was Caroline's turn to be cut off as a hissing gas began seeping through vents in the walls, and she began coughing violently.

"Sweetheart?" Klaus asked, rushing to inspect the vents, and trying in vain to block them with his body.

"I think it's vervain," she choked out, through the haze.

"Well obviously," Klaus muttered, though quiet enough she couldn't hear.

But as soon as it started, the gas stopped, the noise was replaced by footsteps coming down what sounded like stone steps.

"What is it?" Klaus asked.

"Footsteps," she whispered.

"I can't hear…" he responded, though Caroline didn't reply straining her eyes to see who was there.

The ominous steps continued until, for the second time in as many moments, a face was revealed from the shadows, and Caroline's heart leapt and plummeted, somehow simultaneously.

"Hello, Caroline."

"Daddy?"

Bill Forbes unlocked the cell, and stepped in.

His face held an expression Caroline knew all too well. It was resolute, and disappointed. She'd seen it a thousand times before, and she _hated_ that he wore the face now, because it meant he _knew_.

"Daddy, you have to help me," she spluttered. "Someone tied me up here, they're trying to hurt me."

Klaus felt a sympathetic twinge for Caroline. It was obvious to him that her father wasn't there to rescue her.

"You need to trust me, Caroline," Bill said, kneeling down in front of his daughter. "I will _help_ you. You just have to tell me; how do you walk in the sun?"

"Caroline, love, don't trust him," Klaus said quietly, his eyes flicking between her and her father.

"If I tell you, you'll help me?" Caroline said, hope shining in her eyes.

"Yes, sweetie," he said, every bit the doting father.

"Caroline, _don't_ ," Klaus implored.

But he was too late, as Caroline's eyes flicked to the ring on her finger.

Bill's tender hands picked up her hand, and slid the ring from his finger. He tossed it far out of reach and got to his feet.

His eyes were determined, as he went over to a chain on the wall, that neither Klaus nor Caroline had noticed before.

"Daddy, what are you doing?" Caroline said, her eyes wide.

Without a word, Bill began to pull the chain, and suddenly Caroline knew what was coming.

"Daddy, _no_ , please!"

But there was no use, because a fraction of a second later, a vent opened, letting in full sun from the world beyond her cell.

Caroline screamed, and Klaus could hear every ounce of pain she was feeling; her skin was sizzling, blistering. But before she was set fire completely, Bill shut the slats.

Ominously, he pulled a blood bag from his pocket and opened it up.

Caroline's face changed instantly in response to the scent of the blood; her eyes darkened, and black veins ran up her face, feeling the need to feed, to _heal_.

Bill appraised his daughter, that furrow of disappointment returning. He placed the offending bag down on the table behind him, before moving back toward the chains, his hand ready let the sun in at any moment.

"Daddy, please, you don't have to hurt me, I can control it. I _don't_ kill people, I don't, I swear."

"Oh, Caroline," Bill said. "I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to cure you."

"What…. You can't –"

But her agonised screams finished her sentence, as Bill opened the slats a second time, letting sunlight flood the room.

And that was how the cycle repeated for the rest of the day, leaving Caroline weak and limp as the sun went down many hours later.

Bill assessed her once more before he left the dungeon, disdain filling his eyes.

"You will get over this, Caroline," he stated. "I can't bare any alternatives."

With that, he was gone.

Caroline sat, still upright in her chair, looking completely shell-shocked and despondent.

"Caroline?" Klaus breathed. "Sweetheart, are you okay?"

It was a stupid enough question to pull her from her stupor.

"Of course I'm not okay," she said, tears springing to her eyes.

"I'm sorry for being concerned, love," Klaus replied, immediately on the defensive. "I won't make the same mistake again."

"What are you even still doing here?" Caroline snapped. "Go terrify some other girl you killed. This one has enough on her plate right now."

"Don't be naïve, Caroline," Klaus drawled. "I'm dead, there's not a lot of riveting conversation over here."

"Well lucky me! Won the jackpot today!" Caroline said, sarcastic enthusiasm in every syllable. "If you're so dead, and not having _riveting conversations_ , how on earth are you talking to me! _You're dead_!"

"And you're a vampire, love, use the brain in that pretty little head of yours, and consider that maybe the impossible is often possible!"

"Okay, okay," Caroline snipped. "Jeez, no need to be rude. I'm trying to wrap my head around _having a little chat with my dead murderer_!"

"Yes well, love, wrap faster, because I am fast losing patience –"

" _You're_ losing patience? Are you kidding me?" Caroline laughed, angrily. "I'm the one strapped to a chair, after a full day of daddy-daughter torture time, having to listen to your pompous ass insult me!"

"You are trying me, Caroline, and you would do well to not make me angry!"

"Oh, grow up, Klaus! You're a grown man, it is not my _duty_ to not make you angry!" Caroline bit out. "Also, what are you going to do? Kill me again? Tried and failed with that one, honey, better luck next time!"

Klaus growled, and launched himself at her. Caroline flinched back, his hands gripping her restrained arms tightly. At contact, Caroline felt as though she was being drenched in ice, but said nothing, opting instead to stare furiously at him.

Their eyes staying locked for a few moments, both with half-snarls on their faces, until Caroline, exhausted, relented somewhat.

"Truce?" Caroline asked, still frowning crossly at him. Though she was willing to enter a cease fire, if it meant she could conserve what little energy she had left after the day.

"And why would I enter into a truce with you?" Klaus spat – apparently not as willing.

"I don't know, Klaus," she sighed, closing her eyes. "Maybe because we're stuck here. Maybe because you've _literally_ been haunting my dreams for weeks now. And if you wanted to leave me alone, you would have. But here you are."

Klaus' scowl deepened, but he looked away. She was right of course; he was there because he wanted to be.

Klaus relaxed slightly, and took a seat on the only other bit of furniture in the dungeon; a table right by the entrance, about four feet from where Caroline was tied.

He studied her for a moment, trying to decide _what next_.

"How are you here?" she asked.

"How are you?" he replied.

"Bonnie," Caroline said, tentatively, noting the twitch in his eye when she mentioned the witch's name.

"When you know… when Elijah… did the _thing_ ," Caroline stammered, trying to find the least offensive way of pointing out her friends and his brother successfully killed him. "Your energy was added to all the energy Bonnie was channelling. And since she didn't need to use it on you, she turned the full force of it on me."

Klaus' eyes were narrowed as he watched her, keenly taking in all the information.

"And whatever she did worked, because next thing I know I'm gasping for air, and…"

"And?" he pressed.

"And I was back," she finished, lamely.

"Right," he said, sceptically.

"And what about you? You've been a real asshole with the whole haunting me stuff! I haven't been able to sleep properly since, like, May!"

Klaus chuckled, but didn't say anything right away.

"I don't quite know," he said, stiltedly, after several moments of silence, as though those words were quite difficult to say.

"Well, then," Caroline prompted. "From your point of view what _physically_ happened? I'm sure the rest can come down to witches and their juju."

"One minute I was being tortured by your witch friend, and killed by my brother, and the next I was in the blackness."

"The blackness?"

"Yes, the blackness. It was just _black_ , sweetheart, _black._ A darkness pressing in on me, suffocating me, pressing in on my eyes, restricting my movements. I had no control."

Caroline watched him closely as he spoke, and once again, she couldn't help but feel for the hybrid. She knew the feeling he was talking about, and it was the most awful thing she ever experienced.

"That's awful, Klaus," she said, gently. "I'm really sorry."

"I bet you are," he grumbled, his mood changing like a switch, all traces of vulnerability gone. "I think you're probably especially sorry for the part you played in my death."

"Hey!" she said indignantly, swiftly kicking herself for feeling sorry for him. "I had nothing to do with your death, _asshole,_ since I was on a stone slab staked to death _by you_ when you were killed!"

"Oh don't pretend you're not happy I'm dead!" he said haughtily. "You would have probably delivered the final blow if you could."

" _Happy you're dead_? Do you even hear yourself?" Caroline cried, disbelieving that _anyone_ could be such a complete pestilence. "Dead-you is _literally stalking_ alive-me. If you were alive, at least I wouldn't be getting yelled at for trying to be nice to you!"

"Oh, woe is you, Caroline," he said, in a melodramatic, sing-song voice, before switching to condescension. "You're alive, love, stop acting like everything is so horrible for you."

Now, it had been a long and draining couple of days for Caroline, and while she usually left crying to be done alone, she couldn't help the sudden tears brimming in her eyes once more.

"How can you say that?" she whispered, her voice shaking. "Are you _so_ self-centred that you forgot my dad has been trying to torture the vampire out of me today?"

Even in the face of her distress, Klaus said nothing, just looked disparagingly at her.

"Just leave me alone, Klaus," Caroline said, letting the tears fall as she twisted as much as she could in her seat trying desperately to find a more comfortable position. "Today has been the single worst day of my life. And I have died. _Twice_. I don't need anything else from you to add to the pile."

"Your guilt trips won't work on me love," he said, spitefully. "I do not care."

"Believe whatever you have to, Klaus. Just stay out of my head please."

With that, Caroline shut her eyes and was silent.

Klaus watched her as she vainly attempted to sleep. And for all his bluster about guilt trips, he definitely felt some guilt panging in his chest.

The woman across from him was silently crying. He could see her body shaking, and tears leaking from behind her closed eyes. He could hear every shuddering, heavy breath she was trying to stifle.

She was just being kind to him, plus she was his only link to the living.

Klaus felt another pang in his chest when he remembered what she endured all day. She was tortured, for hours, at the hand of someone who was supposed to love and care for her, and she had still found it in her to extend kindness to him.

It was a kind of empathy Klaus seldom encountered, but often craved.

It took hours for Caroline to cry herself to sleep, and even more for Klaus to stop watching her while she slept.

And it was just a few more after that, when Bill showed up for another day of the same business as the previous day.

Caroline cried, screamed, and pleaded with her father to show mercy. Klaus watched it all, and there was nothing he could do about it, even as his rage at the violent malfeasance.

He noticed her eyes flick to him occasionally, when it seemed the pain was at its worst, and her father's words were cutting deeper than the sun's rays. Klaus suspected she might be making sure he was still there.

When the moon rose, and Bill packed his twisted job up again for the day, Caroline slumped, as far forward in the seat as her restraints would allow, trying to regain control. But with every passing hour without blood to revitalise her, her recovery time was slower.

"Sweetheart," Klaus said, tentatively.

"What, Klaus?" she said, with such little care that Klaus was almost taken aback.

"Thank you for what you said last night."

Caroline frowned, exhaustion etched in every line on her face.

"What did I say?" she asked.

"You said you were sorry about my experience over here. Thank you for saying that."

It wasn't quiet an apology, but she would take the the attempt on face value.

"You're welcome," Caroline said, trying to sound haughty, though not quite managing it.

"I had lost track of how long I had been trapped there," Klaus said, looking at his hands folded in his lap. "The nothingness never ceased pressing in on me. Until at one point or other, I felt _something_. It seemed to numb the cold somewhat."

Caroline watched Klaus' face closely. It was happening again. She was feeling compassion for him, despite everything.

"I've been around my fair share of magic over the years, Caroline," Klaus said, looking back up at her. "I know how embracing power works. I've felt the pull of more than 12,000 full moons in my life time, every time I could feel the needs of my wolf thrumming, trapped under my skin."

"That's why you wanted so badly to break the curse," Caroline said gently.

She'd never considered what fuelled Klaus' manic desperation to break the curse. And she thought, perhaps after a thousand years of living on this fraught plain of existence, maybe she would be driven violent with want for something.

"It is, but that's not the point," Klaus replied. "The point is, I felt that energy, I knew how to embrace it. How to follow it, _find_ it. And it led me to you. It was still black, but I could move, and feel. Then one day the energy was no longer just energy. The blackness was gone, I could see you, feeding, living, going about your life. But I couldn't reach you."

"I could feel your energy too," Caroline said, tentatively. "Even before you were in my dreams. I was keeping my wits about me, because Bonnie said she didn't know what the consequences of my coming back would be. I first started noticing new energies around about a week after the sacrifice."

"What do you mean 'energies'. More than one?" Klaus asked, furrowing his brow.

"Well, yeah I think," Caroline said, trying to remember through her exhaustion. "Early on I felt different things, I tried tracking what I felt, but I didn't know what was actually different, and what was my projection, if you know what I mean?"

"Not really, love."

"Well you know, some days, if I was feeling rotten, I couldn't be sure if I was feeling rotten because of myself or because of the energy I sensed. Or when I noticed a stable type energy, whether that was influencing my emotions, or I was influencing the energy. And, well, then the dreams started, and from there, I just tried not to think about it all that much."

"I see," said Klaus, still appearing to be deep in thought. "Can you remember anything else? Anything about these energies, any differentiating characteristics at all?"

"I don't remember," Caroline whispered, helplessly.

"Please, Caroline, think, it could be important. If I managed to make some sort of physical form, maybe another entity can."

"Klaus, please, I can't think right now," Caroline said, feebly trying to push herself into a more active position. "I am so tired."

Klaus instantly felt bad for pushing her, he took in her ashen face, her scorched skin that really was taking its time stitching back together.

"Of course, love, sorry."

"Mmhmm," she hummed. "Thanks, Klaus."


	3. The Blood Bag

Caroline passed out almost immediately after she stopped speaking. Klaus was pleased she wasn’t crying tonight, as she had been last night, but it pained him somewhat to see her so battered. For better or for worse, she was all he had for now. Maybe forever.

As she slept, Klaus decided he would explore the boundaries of the magic keeping him… wherever he was.

He’d never had to consider his own death before, or dying. He was arrogant enough to believe that was one night that would never come for him. But that didn’t mean his curiosity wasn’t piqued by the topic occasionally. Although, obviously the theories Klaus had collected over the years, were just that, _theories_.

He had always been an obscenely strong being, and as he said to Caroline, he knew a lot more about magic than he would ever be given credit for. He knew if he embraced the magic some more, pushed a little harder, concentrated deeply, he would likely be able to do _something_. Especially since he seemed to have regained control of his body.

He’d only had this form for the passed three days, as far as he could tell. Before that, he had his body, per se, but no control over it.

Klaus decided it was time to discover what would happen should he try and interact with the world around him.

He pushed himself up from where he was sitting on the table and tried to walk through the door of the cell. But he was stopped by the wall in the physical world.

Seemed he was not the walk-through-walls kind of ghost. 

Next he moved on to messing with the lock on the cell door. If he couldn’t walk through walls, maybe he could snap the lock off?

That was also no use, because even though he could grasp the lock, feel it in his hand, he was unable to physically interact with it. Apparently, while he had corporeal form on his side of the veil, he was merely an imprint on the physical world; bound to be constrained by the cause and effect rules of Caroline’s side, with an inability to interact with it.

Yet.

He would not be discouraged, because before a couple of days ago, Klaus would have sworn he would be stuck calling to Caroline in her dreams for eternity, until he wasn’t. So he would take all ‘rules’ he gleaned as about his situation as a dead man to be temporary.

That got him to thinking, why _had_ he gone from her dreams to her waking hours?

And, hadn’t she outlined a similar progression of things to him?

She said she felt his presence, then his energy – though he was fuzzy on the difference just yet – then the dreams. Then on the day he had become a permanent fixture in her realm, she had seemingly heard some of his interactions with her, but not all. He had been talking to her for days without her being any the wiser. Why the sudden change?

But he benched those questions for the moment – Caroline would likely be able to shed some light on all that when she woke.

Klaus decided he would make it his mission to get the blood bag to Caroline. Bill had left the bag in the cell that night, to tease and tempt his daughter while he wasn’t there. And Klaus was determined, if there was a way for someone on the other side to interact with the physical world, he would find it. And help Caroline feed.

He walked up to it, and placed his hand on it. Much like the lock a few minutes earlier, he could feel the cool plastic beneath his hand, but was unable to squeeze it, move it, pierce it or do anything else with it for that matter.

Klaus caught himself wondering whether the bag could feel him, the way he could feel it, but quickly rolled his eyes at himself. It was a _bag_.

But this notion inspired him. When he’d touched Caroline the night before, she had recoiled from him. But not just him, from his touch specifically. She felt _something_ but Klaus had been in too much of a rage at the time to discover what that something was.

But maybe the rage was part of the equation?

Testing a theory, Klaus placed his hand back on the blood bag, and began to _feel_.

He let every moment of displaced hatred toward Bill Forbes that had built in him over the past two days flow through his body. He channelled the wild anger felt watching the man continually torture his only daughter. Klaus imagined the hellfire he would rain upon the Bill for laying a hand on his daughter. He let the fury flow through his veins, tickle his skin.

And right as Klaus was quivering with unsatisfied ire, picturing his fist plunging into Bill’s chest for even considering injuring his daughter out of a skewed sense of loyalty, his fingers contracted around the blood bag, and the blood bag squashed inward.

With great effort, using the momentum built from his fury, and the sudden rush of delight about unravelling one secret of this realm, Klaus seized the bag and flung it toward Caroline. Lucky for the young woman, Klaus had particularly good aim, and even with the extra force for his throw, the blood bag landed square in her lap.

Caroline woke with a squeal and a start, nearly dislodging the bag in her lap.

“Careful,” he hissed, much more aggressively than he intended on being, still boiling with anger after all.

“What the hell, Klaus!” Caroline cried, indignantly. “I was trying to sleep!”

“Lap,” Klaus barked, as he took deep breaths, attempting to calm himself.

Caroline looked down, her eyes bugged out, then she looked back at him, then back at the blood bag.

“How did you…” she asked, disbelievingly.

Caroline had enough give in her restraints that she could grasp the bag in her hand, and bend her torso forward to take a drink. Luckily her father had already popped the top, so she wouldn’t have to. 

Klaus watched as Caroline desperately began to drink from the bag, and was pleased with his efforts. She would be healed and back to full strength in no time.

So imagine his surprise when after only three sips, Caroline fought off her urge to down the whole bag, and stopped drinking.

“Caroline, you have to drink,” he said, incredulously. “You need your strength.”

“I know, I know,” she said, heavily, her eyes still black, fighting her ravenous urge to finish her meal. “But we have to be smart about this, what’s dad going to do if he comes back in here in a few hours and this bag is empty? I’ve had enough to heal from the past couple of days, and shake Carol’s vervain. I will be stronger tomorrow. We have to take it day by day at the moment.”

All traces of his pent up anger evaporated as Klaus watched her, stunned.

“How old are you?”

“Seventeen,” she said, grateful for anything to distract her. “Nearly eighteen.”

“How long have you been a vampire?”

“A few months, I guess,” she said, shrugging. “What’s it to you?”

Klaus shook his head and walked over to her, shaking his head, deeply impressed by her ability to control.

He placed his hand on the blood bag again, and using the sudden rush of emotion for Caroline, managed to pick up the bag, and place it back on the table.

“There,” he said, proudly. “Bill will be none the wiser.”

It required a lot less energy to move than the first time, and Klaus wondered whether it was an object-by-object thing? Maybe once you moved something once, had that physical connection with it, then it’s easier to get to? Like flattening a path through thick brush in a wood – it’s always easier to follow a path already made.

“Now, _that’s_ exciting,” Caroline said, visibly intrigued by his work. “Two days ago you could barely whisper, now you’re moving things and influencing people.”

Caroline giggled at her own joke, feeling exceptionally grateful for the blood. She knew she wasn’t at full strength, but she felt well enough to regain her good humour, and no longer felt and pain or exhaustion from the days of torture.

“What’s impressive, love, is that you did not rip through that bag like an animal,” Klaus said, sitting down on the table again. “I don’t know if I’ve ever encountered control like that from one so young. It’s remarkable.”

Caroline felt quite chuffed with herself. Sure, getting praise from the devil was still getting praise from _the devil_ – but it was still getting praise all the same. She knew she had good control, but never even considered maybe she was remarkable.

“Thank you,” she said, a pleased smile on her lips. “Wait, how did you do it?”

Klaus explained the thought journey he embarked on once she fell asleep, about things he supposed and thought could be possible.

“I also have some questions for you, if you’re up to it,” he said.

“Shoot.” 

“You talked yesterday about how you had a similar progressive of symptoms – for want of a better term – as I did. Presence, energy, dreams, whispers, then I was here, is this correct?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Caroline replied, trying to sit as gracefully as she could while her arms were tied to a chair.

“Do you have any theories as to why the progression?” he asked. “Because I had been talking to your during daylight hours for a lot longer than the first time you noticed me at the poky tavern with that wolf-boy.”

Caroline frowned, trying to think. Klaus couldn’t help but be a little charmed by the expression on her face, she was so focussed, it was adorable.

“I don’t know, I guess I was more worried about it,” she said, as though questioning herself. “That morning, when I woke with the creepy stalker in my dreams, thank you for that, by the way.”

“Not a problem, love,” he interjected.

“I resolved that I’d keep a firmer eye out for strange happenings, and then I would tell Bonnie if it got too much worse.”

Klaus nodded, mulling over her words in his head.

“And I was considering sharing what was happening with Tyler, because then at least I could talk about it with someone.”

“Yes, you and the wolf were getting quiet close,” Klaus said, disapprovingly. “Such a lap-dog, that one, always running around like you’d just stood on his tail.”

“Hey!” Caroline exclaimed. “He’s my friend.”

“He’s more than your friend, love,” Klaus said, pompously. “I saw his attempts at ravishing you, don’t forget, disappointment to the wolf kind.”

Caroline balked.

“Oh my gosh, Klaus!” she shrieked, going bright red. “You _watched_ us? Having… _you know_! How could you! Did you watch me in the shower!?”

Klaus couldn’t help but laugh at her indignation. It was rather amusing to him how much she’d taken all the supernatural happenings in her sleepy home town in her stride, but was still scandalised by the implication of immodesty.

“Calm down, love,” he chuckled. “I will have you know, I may be a murderous hybrid, but I was still raised a gentleman. I did not peak on you and the wolf, nor you in the shower, nor when your urges became too much and you _needed_ to help yourself out. _And_ I only peaked a little when you went swimming, and slept in those tiny pyjama shorts of yours.”

“Some gentleman!” Caroline blushed.

“Gentleman, yes, love, but still a man.”

“I can’t believe this,” she muttered. “What do you mean you didn’t ‘peak’?”

“I mean if you were in the shower, I faced the wall. When you were with the wolf, I was rolling my eyes too hard at his attempts to woo you, I couldn’t see anything anyway.”

Caroline rolled her own eyes at this, but couldn’t help but smile at his joke. Though she would never _ever_ admit it to him, or anyone else for that matter, she felt a little bit sexy at the thought of him ogling her… even if it was _creepy on so many levels_.

“Let’s get back to the brainstorm,” Caroline said, still a twinge of pink in her cheeks. “The only the I can think is that the whole thing was on my mind more the last few days.”

“So the more you thought about it, the stronger the connection became,” Klaus mused.

“But why me?” Caroline said, a little distressed.

“I believe that will be the million-dollar question,” Klaus said.

“I guess also, at the party, when I saw you in the crowd, I was really wasted as well,” Caroline said. “Inebriation makes a girl an easy target.”

“Right you are, love,” Klaus said, thinking his way to the next logical conclusion. “So, when you were hit with that vervain dart, it seems reasonable to assume you were weak enough for me to come to this side through your weak grip on your consciousness.”

“Wow, that’s a lot,” Caroline said. “Adds up though, I was fighting you before then.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I was actively pushing you and the dreams from my mind whenever I could,” Caroline pondered. “I would think about it at night before bed, but didn’t let myself dwell too much, or else I scared myself.”

“Well a theory it may be, but it’s a solid one,” Klaus said, resolutely.

Caroline nodded, and the two of them fell into silence, though it wasn’t one of the tense silences they’d been tangled in before.

“Are you a hybrid over there?” Caroline asked, suddenly.

“What?” Klaus asked, sharply. It wasn’t something he had considered before that moment.

“Well you died _after_ completing all the steps of the sacrifice,” Caroline said, a little wary of how aggressively he responded. “But you died _during_ your first wolf transformation. I don’t know if that first transformation is essential to the sacrifice.”

“What has this got to do with anything?” Klaus said.

“I guess not much,” Caroline replied. “I was just interested. We’re stuck with each other for a while now, I think, I think that rates some interest in what’s going on with you. Plus, I think we need to be as honest as possible with each other, or it’s going to make existing real awkward.”

“I suppose,” he said. “But in answer to your question, I don’t know if I’m a hybrid. I can’t transform, but I also don’t need to feed, nor can I harm myself. I’m not hungry, or thirsty. I just exist.”

Caroline hummed in interest, filing the information away for contemplation at another time.

“Can you exist beyond me?” Caroline asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, obviously dad can’t see you, and you still exist on this side while I’m asleep, but,” Caroline paused, trying to find what she wanted to say. “I guess I want to know how much your connection to this side is connected to me. If you weren’t hanging around here just because you can interact with me, could you, I don’t know, hang out in Italy, even if it is just to see the sights.”

Klaus was, once again, a bit impressed with Caroline. It was the second times in as many minutes that she had posited an idea he was yet to consider. Klaus had been so focussed on making his connection with Caroline for the past few months, he never tried exploring elsewhere on his side. 

“I’m not sure,” Klaus said. “Maybe I should give it a go today? When your father arrives I slip beyond this cell and see if I can traipse the outside world of Mystic Falls.”

“Oh, sure…”

Caroline looked nervously away from him, her fingers beginning to tap a soft, unsteady rhythm on the chair’s arm.

“What’s the matter?” Klaus asked.

“I don’t know, nothing,” Caroline said. “It’s nothing.”

“Caroline, it was you who implored some shared honesty.”

Caroline thought for a moment, searching for how to articulate best what she felt.

“I would feel more comfortable if you were here,” she said, tentatively, still not looking at him.

“What?” Klaus said.

“When my dad is… doing his thing…” she said, awkwardly. “I know you can’t do anything, and I know it’s so stupid, but having you _there_ in the corner of my eye or whatever, makes me feel a bit more comfortable.”

Klaus gaped blankly at her for a good long while. He didn’t know what he had been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t this.

“I know, stupid. You’re like a million years old, and Elena’s murderer. And just a murderer. And _my_ murderer, in fact. But I don’t know, you being here right now, makes me feel like someone is in my corner.”

Klaus still had not said a word, stunned by her admission.

“And obviously it wasn’t misplaced,” she said softly, smiling wanly at him. “You could have done _anything_ with your experiments today. You could have used what you learned about the emotion channelling to hurt me, or get the door open and leave. But you used it to help me. I know I’m supposed to hate you, because of the murder, and the terrorising my town, and because you were a total jerk last night _and_ the one before. But it’s not like any of your murders stuck, and like for real now there are other people doing just as much terrorising, and I was kind of a jerk too. So… Anyway, you helping me, I think that kind of makes us buddies now.”

Caroline knew she was rambling to fill to the silence, but she couldn’t help herself, it was such an old habit.

“I’m not a million,” Klaus said. “I’m just over a thousand.”

“ _Right_ ,” Caroline drawled. “After everything I said, your takeaway was I exaggerated your age.”

But Caroline smiled as she finished her sentence, and she was pleased to find he smiled back.

“I think we can be buddies,” Klaus murmured, feeling possibly more vulnerable than he _ever_ felt in his entire life.

“Buddies, or maybe I just have transferred my Stockholm syndrome from my dad to you,” she teased him, with a wink.

But before Klaus could answer, there was a squealing of an unoiled hinge opening, signalling the beginning of another agonising day for Caroline.

“Good morning, Caroline,” Bill said, as he unlocked the cell door. “Have you used your reprieve to think about what you can do better today?”

“Daddy, please,” Caroline said, immediately forgetting entirely about Klaus and their conversation. “You don’t have to do this, I don’t kill, I don’t even –”

But she was cut of by her instincts kicking in, as Bill opened the blood bag. Caroline’s fangs dropped, and eyes changed. She knew what that particular bag tasted like, and it was oh so sweet.

“Oh, Caroline,” Bill said, the picture of a father disappointed by a nothing more than a test score.

Without another word, Bill pulled the fateful chains, sunlight and his daughter’s screaming filling the room once more. 


	4. The Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have not done a final check of this one, hope there's not too many mistakes!! xx enjoy!

“So, what’s the plan for when we get out of here?”

“What makes you think we will get out of here?”

A few more days had passed since Caroline was locked into the cellar and, as wild as it was, she and Klaus had fallen into a bit of a routine.

The instant Bill would leave, Klaus would bring Caroline the blood bag, she would take a few small sips to heal from that days’ torture, then they would sit and talk – usually just about their situation, theorising why her, why him, etc. – but sometimes Caroline would tell a bit about her life, growing up in Mystic Falls.

Klaus sensed the talking was comforting for Caroline, something to take her mind off the trauma of the experience. So, he indulged her. Although it wasn’t like he could have resisted.

“Of course we will get out of here,” Caroline laughed. “Other than the whole I refuse to die for a third time thing. They’ll notice I’m missing soon enough.”

“It’s been nearly a week,” Klaus said, frowning. “How have they not noticed yet?”

Caroline shrugged, a little self consciously.

“Maybe dad told mom that I was staying with him, or something,” she said. “But mom will notice he’s around town and she’ll start poking her nose in.”

“But what about your friends?” Klaus pressed. “I know you spend a lot of time texting them, surely they’ll notice if you’re suddenly radio silent.”

“I don’t know, Klaus,” Caroline said, testily. “I don’t know, I’m not usually number one on list of things to worry about, okay. Elena is _always_ number one on that list, and Stefan is currently number two. Tyler will probably have noticed, but in his mind, I slept with him, snuck out, and haven’t spoken to him since… He’ll just think I’m avoiding him, or too awkward, or whatever.”

“Why would Elena matter?” Klaus asked, a dark quality settling on his face. “Elena died in the sacrifice.”

“Right… About that,” Caroline said, a guilty expression on her face. “Elena did a me in the sacrifice…”

“What do you mean,” Klaus said, dangerously.

“Umm… Bonnie kind of spelled it so that Elena’s soul would be, kind of linked… with John Gilbert’s soul. Did you ever meet John Gilbert? He’s Elena’s uncle, who is actually her birth father… Who would have seen that coming, right…?”

“The _point,_ Caroline,” Klaus said,

“They sort of switched lives….” Caroline said, lamely. “John died. Elena lived.”

Klaus lips tightened threateningly, and his nostrils flared.

“I didn’t like not tell you for any reason…” Caroline said, trying to fill in for Klaus’ deafening silence. “I have been kind of preoccupied, being tortured, talking to ghosts. You know, regular teen stuff.”

Klaus _still_ said nothing, his eyes growing more and more murderous by the moment.

“She’s still human though! So, you know, if we find a way to bring you back to this side, and you’re _not_ a Hybrid, you can totally just sacrifice her again!” Caroline rambled, desperately trying to instil some semblance of calm on him, before she realised what she said. “Wait! Don’t do that! Elena’s my friend! I’m just _rambling_ , spit-balling… you know… can you please say something?” 

Klaus lips were so tight by now that they formed just a thin line. He was breathing heavily like he was desperately trying to calm himself down and keep control.

“It must suck, being duped by another doppelganger, hey,” Caroline said, unhelpfully. “But it really was the best outcome for my circle of friends. We were all terrified of you.”

Still stonily silent, Klaus just glowered at her.

“But you’re not so bad,” Caroline said, giving him the most charming, sunny smile she had, hoping to manipulate him out of his funk.

In a fit of petulance, Klaus frowned deeper, and rolled his eyes. Though it was just as much at himself, as it was at Caroline. For some ungodly reason, Klaus felt his temper subsiding as Caroline spoke. She was just so damn cheery! Couldn’t she be a _normal_ torturee, one that was broken and terrified, not this semi-jovial, bright-side-of-the-cell, trying-to-comfort creature sitting across from him.

“Klaus,” Caroline sang, knowing she had him. “Don’t _smile_ Klaus! Don’t smile!”

A man of more will power may have been able to resist smiling in that moment, but not Klaus. He cracked a tiny, begrudging smile. And completely changed the subject to cover the fact he did so.

“So, you asked me a question, what’s the plan for when we get out of here.”

Caroline smirked at him, but allowed the change of subject.

“I did ask that! I will be _so_ behind on my prep for going back to school, though having an invisible million-year-old to whisper answers to tests in my ear will be an advantage for my SATs.”

“Caroline, I’m not a million,” Klaus said, his voice on the border of pleading. 

“Shush, you’re almost that, accept it,” Caroline teased. “I think when we’re out we can test out some things.”

“Yes, like whether proximity to you is what keeps me from the blackness, etc.,” Klaus added.

“Mmm, I still wonder why me, and why you, you know?” Caroline mused. “Like, I guess this is probably the result of the consequences Bonnie was talking about.”

“What do you mean?”

“She said a bunch of witch stuff,” Caroline said, trying to remember. “Like vampire magic is what brought me back after my human death, then her magic brought me back after my vampire death. She said there would be _something_ that happened, but wasn’t sure what. She left almost straight away after everything, though. We never had the chance to hash it out.”

“I don’t think talking to Bonnie would be a good idea,” Klaus said, quietly.

“We do need a witch perspective on this, Klaus, we can’t just fumble our way through on our own.”

“I’m aware, Caroline, but considering Bonnie is the witch responsible for my death…”

“Right,” she replied, awkward once more. “You make a good point.”

Klaus made a face and gave a single nod, acknowledging the strange circumstances they found themselves in.

“So we find another witch?” Caroline suggested. “Or maybe track down Rebekah? See if she knows anything?”

Klaus looked at her sharply.

“How do you know about Rebekah?” he said, guarded. 

“Oh! She came to save you!” Caroline said, shocked she hadn’t shared this information with him yet. “She beat Elijah to a pulp once she found out she was too late to actually do the saving, then vanished with your body, as well as Elijah and Stefan. Though I was like dead or like _just_ back when this was all going on, so my details are a bit fuzzy.”

“Took Stefan along for the ride, did she,” Klaus said, almost incredulous. “That minx.”

“Why would does that make her a minx?” Caroline asked.

Klaus gave her a knowing smile.

“There is a lot more to Stefan than his sappy high school love life, Caroline,” Klaus said. “More than even Stefan realises.” 

“Way to be cryptic, Klaus,” Caroline intoned. “Care to elaborate?”

“Not particularly,” he said, inscrutably. “Let’s just say Bekah and Stefan were quite the couple during the 1920s, even if he can’t remember it.”

Caroline had no idea what to make of that statement, but filed it away for follow up at a later time.

“So, Bekah showed up for me?” Klaus asked, gruffly, with all the air of someone trying to sound unbothered.

“Yep.”

“Good girl.”

“Any idea what she’s searching for?” Caroline asked, and continued when Klaus gave her an inquisitive look. “We’ve been tracking her and Stefan all summer, and we can’t work out much other than they’re looking for _something_ and leaving behind a pretty destructive trail.”

Klaus thought for a moment. He had a fair idea of what they were looking for, but that was not information he was willing to share.

“Bekah will do, what Bekah will do,” Klaus replied. “But you are right, perhaps finding Bekah once we’re out of here will be helpful.”

Caroline nodded.

“Do you have other brothers or sisters? Or just Rebekah and Elijah? Or your mom or dad? Are they vampires too?” she asked, curiously.

Klaus’ eyes narrowed.

“My parents are not vampires,” he said, though he said it with an air of finality that Caroline decided, once again, to not push the subject.

“Right. Okay. I’m going to try and sleep because I’m really excited for tomorrow,” Caroline said, sarcastically. “Gotta be well rested for day whatever of torture!”

Klaus smiled sadly at her as she struggled to shift in her chair and find a more comfortable spot.

“Sweet dreams, Caroline.”

xxx

“Klaus, _Klaus_.”

Klaus was woken some time later by Caroline repeating his name over and over. He hadn’t even noticed he had gone to sleep until he was being woken. And if he was honest, it was a bit startling, because he hadn’t even needed to sleep until that moment apparently.

It seemed his side of the veil kept all his physical needs met, leaving him to just exist infinitely.

“Morning love,” he said, still a little disorientated. “How’d you sleep?”

“It was terrible, duh? I’m chained to a chair, but that’s not the point,” Caroline said, dubiously.

“Then what’s the matter?”

“Oh… I umm… just got worried that you were asleep,” Caroline said, shifting uncomfortably. “You know, I normally wake up and you’re awake with thoughts from your long night of being awake.”

“Mmm, I was thinking how odd it was that I fell asleep,” Klaus replied. “That can be another thing we can discuss and explore further when we’re out of here.”

“I hope it’s soon,” Caroline said, her voice very small. “I don’t want it to happen again.”

“I know, love, I know,” he said, soothingly. “I wish I could do more.”

“You’re fine,” she said. “I can’t imagine what it would be like to –”

“Who are you talking to Caroline?”

Unnoticed by Caroline or Klaus, Bill was at the bars of her cell looking at her suspiciously. Caroline gaped at him, unable to find any explanation.

“I asked you a question, Caroline,” Bill said.

“No one,” Caroline replied, unconvincingly. “Just myself, a pep-talk, you know.”

Bill eyed her, suspiciously, but didn’t say anything else, instead unlocked the cell and let himself in.

Caroline’s eyes flicked to Klaus, and he smiled sadly at her.

“You’ll get through this, love,” he said quietly, as though the prying ears of Bill Forbes would be able to hear him through the ether.

She smiled back at him, a gesture that didn’t go unnoticed by Bill, though Bill didn’t point it out, deciding to investigate that at a later time.

“Daddy, please let me go,” Caroline said, dejectedly, knowing that it really was no use pleading with him anymore, but needing to try anyway.

Bill ignored his daughter, opting instead to open the blood bag. As it had every time he tested her, Caroline’s face changed, and disappointed, he began that day’s lesson.

He repeated his vicious, violent cycle, and Caroline begged her father to show her some form of mercy. Though Bill’s vigour seemed renewed, as today he began using the vervain vents on top of the letting in the sunlight, citing that she wasn’t responding to his current methods, so he would have to try something new.

Caroline choked and burned, and Klaus hated to watch it.

Klaus watched, becoming more and more furious at the elder Forbes. Klaus had watched Caroline endure horrific violence for days now, and every day his fury at the elder Forbes grew, but watching her choke, at the same time as burn, found Klaus overcome with a rage he forgot was possible.

From Caroline’s perspective, the next few moments blurred together and it was difficult to decipher which incident occurred first. For at that moment, all hell seemed to break loose in her prison.

The heavy metal door at the top of the steps flew open.

The vents still spewed vervain gas into the enclosed room.

An irate Sheriff Liz Forbes kicked open the door of the cell.

Tyler appeared by her side, cupping her face tenderly.

Bill Forbes was thrown bodily into the bars of the metal bars of the cell.

Klaus was looming over Bill.

“Oh my god, Caroline, thank god you’re okay,” Tyler said, pressing a kiss to her forehead, before quickly trying to work out how to remove the chains.

“Dad has keys,” Caroline rasped, though her eyes weren’t looking at Tyler.

“She’s our daughter, Bill!” Liz was screaming at her ex-husband. “How _could_ you?”

“Klaus,” she said exhausted. “The vents.”

“What was that sweetie?” her mother said, snapping to attend to her daughter.

“The vents… vervain gas…”

“Did you say Klaus?” Tyler said, coming back with the keys for her shackles.

“What?” Caroline asked, feigning confusion, but flicked her eyes to see Klaus an unreadable expression on his face.

“Never mind,” Tyler said.

Liz hurried to take one of Caroline’s hands, while Tyler took the other, and the three of them hobbled to the open cage door.

“I was just trying to –” Bill tried to say, before being interrupted by Liz.

“Save it.”

“Wait!” Caroline said, just as Liz was about to relock the cell. “My ring.”

Tyler let go of her hand, and went in to rifle through Bill’s pockets again.

Caroline jerked her head to Klaus, who was still watching the scene from his position of standing menacingly over Bill’s semi-conscious body.

Shaken from his reverie, Klaus slipped through the cell door, just before Liz slammed it, locking Bill in.

“I’ll be back for you later,” Liz muttered to himself, before concentrating back on helping Caroline up the steps and into freedom. “Taste of his own medicine.”

xxx

It was only about twenty minutes before Caroline was safely back at home, tearing through a slew of B-positive blood bags.

She was wholly grateful that she no longer had to restrain her hunger, and could feed to her heart’s content.

“Slow down, sweetie,” Liz said, watching her daughter tear into her fifth bag. “You’ll make yourself sick, you’re eating so fast!”

Tyler raised a single eyebrow, and even Klaus snorted at the comment, causing Caroline to laugh into the straw, choking a little.

“I’m a vampire, mom,” Caroline said, with a smile still on her face. “I don’t know if getting sick from eating too fast is in my magical DNA.”

“Do you have DNA anymore?” Liz queried.

“I’m not even sure,” Caroline said, finishing off her meal, and not picking up another to just to appease her mother.

“I’m sorry honey, but I better get back to work, and your dad, but I’m sure Tyler can stay.”

“I sure can,” he said, gently. “As long as you need.”

“No!” Caroline said, far too quickly.

“No,” she said slower, and more deliberately. “I just want a shower, and I just want to sleep… and pretend the last week never happened.”

“I think someone should stay with you, Caroline,” Liz said, concerned. “I don’t want you to be alone.”

“I’m never _really_ alone,” Caroline said, giving a tiny smile to Klaus who was standing in the corner. “You guys are just a phone call away.”

“Caroline, please let me stay,” Tyler implored, laying a hand on hers.

Caroline neatly, but gently took her hand from his, placed it in her lap, and looked away, averting her eyes from everyone in the room.

“Please, I just… I just need to have some time to process.”

Both Liz and Tyler stopped pushing with that, and within five minutes both were gone, leaving only insistences to call if she needed _anything_.

“Just you and me again, love,” Klaus said, his first words to her since getting out of the cell. “I was thinking we –”

“Klaus,” she said almost harshly, cutting him off with her voice wavering. “I’m just going to have a shower.”

It shook Klaus somewhat, to see tears in glistening in Caroline’s eyes, and she had flashed up the stairs before he could register much more.

He followed behind her, and sat himself on the ground outside the bathroom door, if he listened closely, he could hear Caroline’s sobs through the door, over top of the water beating on the floor of the shower. But he didn’t listen too closely, choosing not to intrude on her privacy.

He thought about how well she seemed to cope while they were trapped, and it made his heart clench to think just how strong her mask was to keep it up until she was safe. He had thought she brushed off Tyler’s offer to stay because of him, and Klaus realised now how wrong he was.

When she pulled open the bathroom door some fifteen minutes later, she looked worn and weary, but healthy, and calm. She looked adorable too, Klaus thought, wrapped in a fluffy, soft pink dressing gown.

“How are you feeling?” he said softly.

“It’s all caught up with me a bit,” she said, vaguely. “I’m going to go hop into bed.”

“Do you mind if I sit in with you?” he asked – and he was surprised with how vulnerable he felt waiting for the answer.

She gave him a wan smile, gesturing him to follow her into her room.

He settled himself of the squishy arm chair in the corner of the room without a word, while she crawled into bed.

“Thanks for being there for me, Klaus,” she said, her voice as tiny as she looked, all wrapped in blankets as she was.

“You’re welcome, love,” he said, proffering a wan smile of his own.

Klaus heard her breathing even out soon after, and watched as she drifted into a much more comfortable sleep than the night before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a very emotional week, I neeeeed validation O:) so let me know if you like it please <3 <3


	5. The Tests

When Caroline woke the next morning, it was to her mother gently knocking on her door.

"Caroline, sweetie, I have to go to work, but Elena's on the phone for you."

"Mom, I'm sleeping," she said, waspishly.

"Okay, honey, I'll tell her to call you back."

Caroline rolled her eyes at Elena.

"No, mom, I'll talk to her now, I guess."

Liz tentatively brought the phone in, and handed it to Caroline.

"I'm off to work, can we have lunch at the Grill, maybe around 1pm?"

Caroline nodded in agreement, bid her mother farewell, before picking up the phone to talk to Elena.

"Caroline, I'm _so_ glad you're alright!" the other girl gushed. "When I didn't hear from you, I just thought you'd gone away for a few days, or something. It never crossed my mind that you were in danger!"

Caroline rolled her eyes at Elena, for the second time in as many minutes.

"It's fine 'Lena," Caroline said, a little bored. "You couldn't have known."

"Why do you come here for the day?" Elena pressed. "I'm at Damon's, we can just relax, maybe go to the lake. Whatever you want!"

"No thanks," Caroline said. "I'm not really up for doing much."

Caroline didn't offer and alternate plan, testing to see whether Elena would be willing to do anything else when –

"Oh, that's okay then. Well, I'll see you really soon, promise."

"Bye Elena."

Caroline hung up before she heard Elena's response.

"Someone seems a little short with their friends this morning," Klaus stated sardonically, from where he was inspecting his nails leaning against her door jamb. "Should I be worried?"

Caroline lay back in her bed and didn't answer right away.

"You shouldn't be worried," she said, after a moment. "She shouldn't be either, really, I'm just not ready to extend any empathy to her right now."

"I see," he said, slowly. "Did you want to spend the morning exploring our connection, or would you rather stay here for a while?"

She rolled onto her side to face him, contemplating her answer. She looked far less worn than the previous day, but her eyes still held a haunted quality to them.

"I guess I'm awake now," she said. "Let's go do some testing."

xxx

It was nearly two hours later before Klaus and Caroline began their experimentation.

Caroline was adamant she needed a _real_ breakfast first – bacon, eggs, the _works_ – then they needed to gather equipment, then they had to drive to the woods.

"Why on earth do we have to do this in the _woods_?" Klaus asked, irked, as they traipsed through the trees.

"Because Klaus, we can't really test _anything_ if we just stay in the house, and we can't do stuff around town, obviously, I can't just randomly walk around town talking to myself!"

"Okay, fine, but do we have to go _this_ far in?" he complained petulantly.

One thing they tested while Caroline was cooking her breakfast that morning was whether Klaus could use his vampire reflexes and agility, which he could not. And Klaus was not accustomed to walking everywhere he went. He was in quite the fouler about it all actually; the walking, the tripping over stones he didn't see. It felt so infantile, so _human_.

"Yes, and stop sulking," Caroline snapped. "Any closer to town and we might be caught by people doing a hike through the trails. But this is far enough, I suppose."

Klaus melodramatically let his body crumple to the forest floor, splaying himself out as though he'd been walking for twenty days, not twenty minutes.

"You are a huge drama queen, you know that," Caroline intoned, as she placed her backpack full of supplies on the ground next to him, before pulling out a blood bag to take a sip. "So where should we start?"

"Perhaps with distance?" Klaus said, propping himself up on his elbows to look at her.

Caroline nodded and rummaged through her bag, pulling out two phones.

"Actually, now I think about it, we should start here," she said.

Klaus frowned at her curiously, as Caroline fiddled with the phones.

"Say something," she hissed at him.

"What?"

"Say something! Anything!"

"Caroline Forbes is actually the drama queen," he said, grinning wolfishly at her.

She rolled her eyes, and pressed play on the voice memo she just recorded.

" _Say something,_ " Klaus heard the phone copy Caroline. " _Say something! Anything!_ "

"Apparently you won't record," Caroline mused. "I guess that makes sense."

She then used one of the phones to call the other phone, and placed it next to Klaus on the ground.

"Speak into this in a moment," she ordered him. "I'm going to go behind that tree."

He obliged a moment later and repeated, "Caroline Forbes is actually the drama queen."

To Caroline's disappointment, she couldn't hear him through phone's speaker.

"I can't hear you," she said. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes, love," he called to her, from his spot a few feet away.

"I guess it makes sense?" she said again, a question heavy in her voice, as she came back around to face him.

He hummed his response, as Caroline dejectedly picked up the phone from the ground, and hung up the call. She proceeded to fiddle some more with the phone, and Klaus regarded her irritably.

"Need I remind you, love, we do not have all day, as we are due at the grill for lunch with your mother in only a few short hours. May I suggest texting the wolf boy at a later time?"

Caroline's eyes shot up from the phone screen, and she glared at him.

"You can be a real jerk, you know that," she snapped, pressing play on the phone. "I was _actually_ choosing _you_ some music, so while _I_ go do all the physical work of this test _you_ don't get so bored."

A dulcet voice began singing through the phone's tinny speaker, and Klaus' abashed averting of eyes was enough to appease Caroline.

Well… almost enough to appease her.

"Plus, I can text _Tyler_ whenever I see fit, you cannot dictate my life to me just because we're stuck together right now."

With a huff, Caroline flashed away about a hundred feet.

"You all right?" she called to him.

"Yes, love," he called back.

"What about now?" she called after another few hundred feet.

"Yes, love," he repeated.

"Okay, I'm going to try a couple of miles, wait a couple of minutes, then come back, okay?" she yelled. She heard his affirmative response before flashing off.

When she was alone, deep into the woods, Caroline contemplated what they should test out next.

She supposed if Klaus could exist independently from her, then that would open a well of opportunities. She could go hang with Elena without him tagging along. Maybe she would go to The Grill with Tyler. Maybe Klaus would leave…

She pushed that thought away as soon as she had it though, and decided to flash back to Klaus.

"Hey so, verdict?" she said, shortly, when she got back to him.

Though, as she looked at his face, she knew what had happened.

"That was… unpleasant…" Klaus said, stiltedly. "I felt that feeling, I couldn't see or hear, then suddenly you were back and it was gone."

Caroline gave him a sympathetic smile.

"I'm really sorry you had to feel that again," she replied. "Do you want to find the exact distance?"

Klaus nodded resolutely, though was unwilling to let that feeling consume him again.

"Okay, maybe I try a single mile?"

Klaus nodded again, and Caroline flashed away again, waited for a minute, then flashed back.

"That seemed okay," Klaus said, looking relieved when Caroline was back by his side.

"Right…" Caroline said, thinking. "I don't think we need to find the exact distance."

Klaus looked even more relieved at this.

"I gotta be within a mile's radius of you at all times," she said, kindly. "That's enough for you to have your own room in my house!"

She let out a tinkling laugh, and even Klaus cracked a smile.

"What next," he said.

"I was hoping you had an idea?" she replied.

"When I moved the blood bag," Klaus began slowly, as though carefully choosing his words. "I wondered what it felt like for the physical world when I touched it."

Caroline raised a single eyebrow.

"If you wanted to touch me Klaus, you could have just asked," she said, shrewdly.

He would _never_ admit it, he began to flush behind his ears at Caroline's words, though she luckily didn't notice.

She sat herself down next to him, where he was still spread out on the ground, and placed her hand where she could see his.

He could instantly feel her warmth, and the softness of her hands, and he would be lying to himself if he didn't consider how comforting it felt.

"I can't feel anything," she said, evenly. "It's so strange, I can plainly see my hand _isn't_ touching the ground, but it feels as though it is."

"Interesting," he said. "I can feel you, but like before can't physically interact with you."

"So weird," Caroline removing her hand. "I wonder what…"

And before she finished her sentence, she bodily dropped herself on him.

"Oof, Caroline," he said, feeling where her ass was connected to his groin. "You could have warned me?"

She laughed heartily, and scrambled to get off him, her face alight with an adorable mischief.

"I could have but that would have been no fun!"

"Caroline?"

Both Caroline and Klaus froze in their tracks, and Caroline's body clammed up as Damon and Elena came into view.

"Damon thought he heard you," Elena said. "Who were you talking to?"

"Just myself," Caroline said, as she subconsciously shifted so she was in between the newcomers and Klaus.

"I thought you were going to stay in today," Elena replied, looking a little hurt. "And now you're out here."

"I said I wasn't up to much, Elena, not that I was going to stay in," Caroline replied, delicately.

"How is this not much, but hanging with me is too much?"

Caroline valiantly fought the urge to roll her eyes, she really did, but right then she couldn't help herself.

"I just didn't want to hang out today, okay, or if I _did_ I wanted it to be something _I_ wanted do. Like hang out at _my_ house, or go for a hike on a trail _I_ chose. Sorry that going to _Damon's_ house the day after I was freed from getting tortured by my dad wasn't on my to-do list."

"Tell her what you really think, Caroline," Klaus said, cheekily from behind her.

"Caroline, I –"

"I've got to get going, I'm having lunch with _my_ mom soon, who was the only one who noticed I was missing, by the way."

With that, Caroline quickly picked up her things, the phone still warbling music through it's speaker, and turned to go.

"Your dad can resist compulsion," Damon said, snidely.

Caroline stopped dead in her tracks, and closed her eyes.

"What did you say?" she asked, though she knew exactly what he said.

"I said your dad can resist compulsion, barbie," Damon repeated, as he flashed over to her, invading her personal space in a way only he could. "So you better tell him to hold his tongue, or he'll lose it."

The threat was evident, and Caroline's skin crawled at having to talk to her dad, and having Damon so close to her.

"Don't threaten my family, Damon," she said, simply. "Please."

"Damon, don't be ridiculous," Elena said, grabbing him by the arm, and began to drag him away. "We're not hurting Bill Forbes. Period."

Caroline smiled, gratefully at Elena, but still turned to leave.

As she turned, she caught the look of utter murder in Klaus' eyes, and just shook her head at him.

"Why aren't you using your vampire speed?" Damon called suspiciously after her.

"Why are you still talking to me?" Caroline replied, without turning around.

xxx

"So, dad can resist compulsion?" Caroline asked her mother, without any pretense as she sat down for lunch.

Liz Forbes sighed a worried sigh, and looked contemplatively at her daughter.

"It would seem that way, sweetie," Liz replied, after a few moments. "I don't know what his plan is, and since Damon is the one who tried the compulsion, Bill now knows the identities of _two_ vampires in the town. And he knows I know, but am not doing anything about it."

"I guess just throw that on the steaming pile of unknowns this town has thrown at us over the past few years," Caroline said helplessly, her shoulders sagging.

"Chin up, sweetie," Liz said caringly. "You try not to worry about your dad, and leave him to me. Damon's agreed to not do anything drastic until we find out more about what he's up to."

Caroline smiled wanly, her eyes flicking to Klaus, who had respectfully offered to sit at the bar, so she could have lunch with just her mother. He caught her eye and smiled back.

She contemplated all the new complications of her life. What was Bill's plan? Was he just causing trouble for the sake of it? Where was this connection, or link, or whatever it was with Klaus headed? Did she just have to resign herself to a vampire's eternity with a ghost-shadow? What on earth was next for her? For Klaus?

Caroline yearned to talk to her mother about everything that was going on. But she couldn't risk it. Not yet.

"You there?" Liz prompted, as Caroline's silence lengthened.

"Yep!" she said, pulling herself from her reverie. "Now let's order, I'm starving!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I found an outline I wrote for this story ages ago that I forgot about, and apparently I'm actually on track with that outline! How exciting! The timeline will progress after this chapter, and hopefully things start picking up! Who is bored of all this ~exposition~ loololol - Anyway, let me know what you think xx


	6. The Fight

A few weeks had gone by since Caroline was released from the clutches of her father, and the first day back at school was rapidly approaching.

Caroline had spent some time with Elena doing normal teenage things; going to the lake, having sleepovers and the like. The experiences were always that tiny bit more enjoyable because of Klaus’ running snarky commentary in the background. He would more often than not say out loud exactly what Caroline was thinking about a situation, and it took all her will power and acting prowess to not laugh along with him.

She had been a little distant with Tyler, which she felt guilty for. But between sleeping with him, Klaus’ constant presence, and knowing that Tyler was a little more interested in her than she was in him… well, it just felt easier to keep him at arms length.

Her father was still hanging around Mystic Falls, but was yet to reveal any cards in his hand. He went to Founder’s meetings, and skulked around the edges of every town event over that time, but more often than not, just kept to himself. The few times he hadn’t was to stick his nose in to different activities Caroline partook in around town, so she always had to be extra careful to make sure he wasn’t around when she was in public.

Then there was her secret life with Klaus.

As it was summer vacation, and Liz worked a lot, Caroline and Klaus found themselves in the house uninterrupted a goodly amount of time. He had taken up residence in the spare room, and was making a number of in-roads into interacting with things around the house, in the same way he interacted with the blood-bag. He could turn the TV off and on, get in and out of his bed – covers and all. And he’d just polished off all light switches in the house – with the exception of Liz’s bedroom light, he didn’t need to invade the sheriff’s privacy like that.

Caroline couldn’t understand Klaus’ current compulsion with using the fridge, kettle, and other kitchen items, because, the way she saw it, it wasn’t like he could eat or drink any of it anyway. But, for Klaus, he just wanted to be able to bring Caroline a cup of tea every now and then. But he was _not_ going to tell her that’s what he was doing. Partly so he could surprise her, partly in case he couldn’t succeed, but mainly because he felt exceptionally embarrassed for wanting to do it in the first place.

They had begun their search for Rebekah, which was aided a great deal by Damon and Elena’s on-going search for Stefan. Neither Klaus nor Caroline was particularly sure what they would do when they found Rebekah, but it gave them both something to focus on beyond the uniqueness of their scenario.

While they spent a lot of their time in companionable silence, they also spent a good chunk of time just talking. Caroline really was fascinated with Klaus’ life. Every now and then he would share a life event so unexpected that she was struck with how long Klaus’ life actually had been. She knew she was supposed to hate him for everything he had done to mess with Elena, but it was proving difficult. It wasn’t as though he had killed anyone in the sacrifice other than Jules the wolf – seeing as both Caroline and Elena – as the vampire and doppelganger sacrifices respectively – had been brought back to life. She supposed an argument could be made that John Gilbert died because of Klaus’ actions, and Stefan would have never been taken. And maybe they could blame Klaus for Katherine Peirce’s meddling in their lives, but that was a bit of a stretch in Caroline’s view. The more she got to know him, the less she could see the vengeful, hedonistic monster.

The two of them had discussed this somewhat, and Klaus made efforts to assure Caroline the vengeful hedonist was the real him, but she wasn’t so sure. After spending every waking moment with him for weeks on end, Caroline could just see the long, complicated, traumatic life he had led.

Despite all of this, there were times when they could not stand the sight of each other; when their chats escalated into arguments, into shouting matches, into slammed doors.

That particular morning, they had one such altercation.

Caroline had casually brought up the idea of talking to Bonnie about him when she finally came back to town. In her mind, Bonnie was best placed to shed insight on what the hell was going on with them, given that it was likely something in Bonnie’s magic that tied them together.

Klaus had immediately jumped on the defensive, claiming Bonnie wouldn’t want to explore the connection, she would just want to unlink them and banish him, since it was Bonnie who had killed him in the first place. From there it quickly escalated to value judgements about Caroline’s ‘choice of friends’ and Klaus’ ‘choice of terror victims’ and all came to ahead when Klaus spouted that he had half a mind to channel his energy into ripping Bonnie’s throat out, and Caroline saying she wished he would just disappear because obviously he wasn’t worth caring about.

She had stomped out the front door at that point, and set a cracking pace away from Klaus. She considered breaking their one-mile-radius rule, and send him to his dark, oppressive hell, but she instantly brushed that away.

For all her bluster at him wanting to disappear, it had just been that; bluster. She enjoyed having him around, for the most part, and had begun to rely on his presence to mitigate the loneliness she historically felt over summer vacations.

And, she hated to admit it now after such an ugly fight about it, but Klaus had a point about Bonnie. 

Caroline still had not heard hide nor hair from her, despite reaching out a number of times. She was getting the distinct feeling that Bonnie was mad at her, and the few times Caroline had brought her concerns up with Elena, the brunette girl had skirted around the subject somewhat.

“I think the sacrifice took a lot out of her,” Elena had said, sketchily, when Caroline questioned her. “She just needs time, and I think she wants you to respect that.”

At the time, Caroline resisted the very pressing urge to sardonically question as to why she was in the doghouse, while Elena was not, but now, Caroline shut her eyes roughly, still speed walking in the direction of town, her anger at Klaus dissipating, making way for guilt.

Klaus was right. Of _course_ he was right.

Something was _obviously_ up with Bonnie, and Caroline was _obviously_ part of that.

For the first time in her life, Caroline was realising that maybe she couldn’t trust her friends with everything. It scared her that she was putting Klaus’ safety before being truly honest with her friends.

While she was thinking, Caroline’s feet sub-consciously led her to the nearby store, and as the house needed groceries, she decided to use the opportunity to do the errand.

Though, as if she manifested her friend, as Caroline walked through the door, she ran headlong into none other than Bonnie Bennett.

“Oh my gosh, Bonnie!” Caroline said, mustering all the jubilance she could find in the hopes of outwardly staving off her current mistrust for the witch.

“Hi Caroline,” she replied, uncomfortably averting her eyes.

“It’s been so long since I’ve heard from you, is everything okay?” Caroline asked.

“It’s fine, Caroline,” Bonnie said, shortly.

“Jeez, doesn’t sound fine,” Caroline said, teasingly, trying to joke their way out of this strange tension. “What’s up?”

“Well, I can’t do magic anymore and it’s _your_ fault,” Bonnie snapped.

“You can’t do magic?” 

“No I can’t.”

Caroline furrowed her brow, the fury she felt at Klaus only a short while earlier beginning to bubble at her friend.

“How is it _my_ fault?” she said, with a little more bite than intended.

“You should be _dead_ , Caroline,” Bonnie bit out. “You should be dead, but I brought you back, and now the witches have cut off my powers for saving a vampire and destroying the balance of nature.”

“That doesn’t make it my fault?” Caroline replied, indignantly.

“Well, if you _were_ dead I would still have my magic!”

“Oh, I’m sorry my living is such an inconvenience for you?” Caroline cried, getting angrier still. “And don’t you mean if _you_ never brought me back you would still have your magic? Because it sounds like a your-fault thing, not a my-fault thing?”

Bonnie defiantly stared at Caroline, but seemed to deflate after only a few more seconds.

“I’m sorry, Caroline,” Bonnie said, tears caught in her throat. “But I just can’t talk to you, because right now it feels like your fault.”

With that, Bonnie turned on her heel and walked back through the door Caroline had come in only minutes earlier.

Caroline half-heartedly attempted to do her shopping, but gave up after about fifteen minutes, her rage at the injustice of Bonnie’s word consuming her concentration.

Half way back to her house, she heard a familiar voice, and turned to see another friend she hadn’t spoken much to in a few weeks.

“Caroline, hey, Caroline!”

It was Tyler. He looked worn and tired, but his face looked calm.

A knot of nervousness formed in her stomach, joining the ball of fury at Bonnie. In the aftermath of her unsettling experience with Bonnie, she really didn’t have it in her to have another tough conversation.

“Hey Tyler,” she replied. “How have you been?”

“Good, good,” he said. “I just wanted to talk to you about something, can I walk with you?”

For a split second, she contemplated brushing him off, but she couldn’t.

“Sure.”

The two walked in semi-uncomfortable silence for a minute or so before Tyler spoke.

“I turned again last night.”

“Oh my gosh,” Caroline breathed, instantly feeling terrible she hadn’t been there for him. “How are you feeling?”

He just smiled sadly.

“Look, Caroline, I don’t know what changed between us,” Tyler began. “Like we slept together and, I don’t know, I thought it was awesome.”

Caroline cracked a rueful, side-ways smile, and playfully rolled her eyes.

“But, obviously something is going on with you.”

Caroline continued to stare straight ahead, even as she could feel Tyler’s eyes inspecting her face.

“It was almost like you came out of that cell with more secrets than you went in with,” he continued. “And I know you haven’t told Elena or Bonnie, and I don’t blame you, they’re always so wrapped up in themselves. But I wish you could tell me. I wish you could trust me.”

“Tyler,” Caroline began, but he raised a gentle hand to cut her off.

“But you don’t have to, just know that when you’re ready, I will always be there for _you_. You first.”

A moment fluttered past her in which she told Tyler, in which she wasn’t trying to deal with an unknown entity all by herself. But she couldn’t. Not yet at least.

“Thank you,” she replied.

He smiled and grabbed her hand, squeezing it.

“But I have to be there for me too,” he said quietly.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m leaving Mystic Falls for a while,” he said. “I want to learn more about my wolf side, you know. I know where Uncle Mason’s pack is, they deserve to know what happened to him and to Jules. I thought maybe I’d do school there.”

“Oh Tyler,” Caroline said, her eyes widening.

“Mum thinks it’s a good idea, because with your dad hanging around… and Damon being Damon… And with Crazy Sister Mikaelson ready to appear at anytime… I would say I think you should come too, but I know you won’t,” he said, as he offered her a wan smile. “I’m going in a few days actually, but I’ll be back for Christmas.”

Caroline could see how resolute he was in his convictions, but still wished she could talk him out of it. Weird, things may be, but that didn’t stop her deep fondness for him.

“I’m really going to miss you,” Caroline said, and Tyler could see from her face she truly meant it.

“And I’ll miss you.”

He leaned in to hug her, and Caroline couldn’t help the tears prick her eyes.

“I meant what I said,” he whispered into her hair. “I’m just on the other end of the phone. You can always trust me with anything.”

They broke apart, and he turned to go.

“Bye for now, Caroline,” he said over his shoulder.

“Bye for now, Tyler.”

xxx

As the front door slammed behind Caroline, Klaus had fury brimming to his ears.

How very dare she go against him, how dare she spit such vile things into his face, how dare she walk out on _him._

He threw himself dramatically on the couch, in half a mind to chase after her, and continue yelling, knowing she would be in public and would have to act as though she didn’t have a furious 1000-year-old original hybrid ghost-entity screaming in her ear.

But he thought better of it; mad he may be at Caroline, but he didn’t want to push her away to the point where she felt like banishing him. He didn’t want to push her away full stop when he thought about it.

Klaus grabbed the remote and crankily switched on the television, flicking through the channels until he settled on watching the reality show channel.

Reality TV wasn’t his favourite, but it was good for playing in the background while he stewed and brewed on his situation.

He really was exceptionally bored that day, and if he was truly honest with himself, his defensiveness at Caroline was more to pass the time with a fight than anything else.

Over the past few weeks of co-existence with Caroline’s semi-mundane, half-human-half-supernatural life, Klaus was becoming acutely aware that in his thousand plus years of life, he had never truly had _down time_. Had never spent more than a few consecutive days simply _existing._

He was always after something, always looking to conquer _something_. Always busy; never bored. And yet here he was, forced to just exist with extremely limited distraction.

He couldn’t eat or drink, sleep wasn’t necessary – though he tried to do it to pass the time – he couldn’t interact with much, and didn’t like to spend too much time _reflecting_.

So if he wasn’t talking to or fighting with Caroline, or working on interacting with the physical world, Klaus found himself watching hours upon hours of television, anything to keep him from feeling alone.

About thirty minutes after Caroline stormed away, Klaus was roused from his contemplative sulking by her voice talking to one he didn’t recognise. He sprung up to peer through the door and saw her talking to the wolf boy.

Rolling his eyes, Klaus dramatically flopped back on the couch.

Which is where he was a few minutes later when Caroline came through the door he had just been spying through.

Klaus fully intended on ignoring her, and letting her feel his sooky wrath, until he saw her colourless, helplessly upset face.

“Caroline, sweetheart, is everything okay?”

Caroline looked at him, the tears she felt at Tyler’s goodbye welling more in her eyes.

“Bonnie hates me, but is back. Tyler doesn’t hate me, but is leaving.”

All traces of animosity gone, Klaus sat up and patted the couch cushion next to him.

Caroline sat down and let a few of her tears fall.

“How could that witch possibly hate you?” Klaus asked, spitting the word witch with such disdain that Caroline could have flinched.

“She’s lost her magic,” Caroline said, taking deep breaths to calm herself. “And blames me for it. Apparently the witch spirits were mad she rescued a vampire and cut whatever magical antenna Bonnie’s connected to.”

“It’s hardly _your_ fault that _she_ tried to save you,” Klaus said, indignantly.

“Well I know that!” Caroline cried. “But apparently Bonnie’s self-awareness is lower than Elena’s at the moment.”

“And the wolf?”

“His name is _Tyler_ and he’s moving to where his uncle’s pack was, wants to learn more about being a wolf, I guess.”

The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, before Caroline suddenly sprang to her feet, attempting to cover her sadness with an air of busyness.

“I think we should actually try and find Rebekah,” she said.

“Come again?”

“We should actually try and find Rebekah,” she repeated. “I don’t know why we’ve not actually followed any of the leads mom has given us, we’ve just let Damon do the looking. I guess so we – or just _I_ – don’t look so suspicious. Why would I be so desperate to locate a Mikaelson and a Salvatore, you know?”

Caroline was talking very fast, but look very determined.

“But now feels like the right time, if I go on like a ‘road trip’ by myself right now, people will just think I’m upset Tyler’s leaving and upset Bonnie hates me. And anyway, me, Bonnie, and Elena always talked about taking a small road trip before senior year, then Stefan showed up, and Mystic Falls went to supernatural hell in a hand basket, and I guess we lost motivation for doing it. We can use that as a cover!”

“Seems like sound logic,” Klaus said, slowly, mulling over her words. “If that’s what you want to do sweetheart, you needn’t consult me.” 

“Of course I need to consult you!” Caroline said. “We’re stuck together, and even when we drive each other up the wall, I still respect you enough to make sure you’re on board.”

Klaus didn’t respond straight away, a mixture of emotions releasing into his stomach.

“You respect me?” he said, gruffly. “I thought I wasn’t worth caring about?”

Caroline softened a little next to him.

“You are worth caring about, Klaus,” she said quietly, placing her hand on his, even if she couldn’t feel his hand beneath hers. “I’m sorry I said you weren’t.”

“Thank you,” he replied, the warmth of her hand spreading through him.

They sat quite still for what seemed like an age. Caroline noted that Klaus didn’t make any move to apologise to her for their fight, but chocked it up to a millennium of being stubborn for survival’s sake. It wasn’t the kind of behaviour you unlearned over a few weeks of forced co-habitation.

“So, road trip?” Caroline questioned, after a while.

“Road trip,” Klaus smirked back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! First fic update of 2021! Thank you for all your comments so far! There have been a couple of questions, most of them about how canon and lore interacting with this fic. One was would Klaus' line have died with him when he died? And I was just operating under the assumption that would apply in this fic, because it was canon after the point I threw canon out the window. Another one was wasn't Tyler supposed to be sacrificed as the wolf in the sacrifice if Caroline was used, but again, canon out the window - the three sacrifices were Elena (doppelganger), Caroline (vampire), and Jules (wolf). If you have any other questions about canon/lore interacting with this story, let me know! And I will answer them!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, I would be really appreciative of feedback on this lil story. I'm not usually one for canon AU ideas, but this universe has really captured my attention. I like note that this doesn't exactly have a robust plan, just a few ideas of where it might go. But basically throw canon out the window - especially because I can't really remember what canon is!!   
> Much love to you all.


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